150 jobs have been saved at House of Fraser as its new owner Sports Direct announced its regional flagship in Shropshire will remain open.
The embattled retailer’s store in the Telford Centre, which was previously earmarked for closure under House of Fraser’s CVA, will now continue to trade.
“This is another example of what can be achieved when landlords work with us to ensure we deliver on the House of Fraser rescue plan,” head of national agency at CBRE, which is advising Sports Direct on all its newly acquired properties, James Keany said.
This follows news earlier this week that House of Fraser’s iconic location on Oxford Street will be saved from closure and remain “fully operational”.
Days after buying the department store from administration earlier this month for £90 million, its new boss Mike Ashley pledged to ensure 80 per cent of its stores would stay open.
This will further alleviate fears that plans to shut 31 of its 59 stores proposed in its CVA would go ahead.
Ashley still has his work cut out to return his new asset to stability, as its website remains out of operation and a dispute over the retailer’s significant debt pile has caused all of its online orders to be cancelled.
XPO Logistics, who run House of Fraser’s main warehouse in Wellingborough, told workers last week to “down tools” over a hefty £30.4 million debt it is owed.
Though Ashley is understood to be in talks with the logistics company, which has placed 627 staff in redundancy talks, the two are yet to reach an agreement.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
